Iron holder



Feb. 27,1968 .1. E. MlCHAUD 3,370,816

IRON HOLDER Filed Oct. 5, 1966 JOSEPH E. MICHAUD I NVENTOR.

United States Patent 3,370,816 IRON HOLDER Joseph E. Michaud, 35 Haynes St, Worcester, Mass. 01603 Filed Oct. 5, 1966, Ser. No. 584,394 3 Claims. (Cl. 248-117.6)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An iron holder comprising a pair of wire side frames spaced from each other by a plurality of parallel transverse bars wherein each side frame comprises a single piece of wire having one end curled loosely around one of the transverse bars at a point intermediate the ends of the bar, a hooked-shaped terminal portion and a hookedshaped anchor resiliently connected to one of the transverse bars.

Iron holders for safely securing electric irons to an ironing board are known in the prior art as disclosed in US. Patents 3,027,129, 3,136,516, and Canadian Patent 713,412, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein.

In the prior art devices, the holder incorporates a resilient clamp or pair of clamps for securing the holder to an edge of an ironing board. The resilient clamps have a limited capacity for expansion and as a result the amount of safety provided depends on the thickness and pressure applied to an individual ironing board. The means for securing the iron in the prior art holders also leaves much to be desired.

These prior art holders have been produced in response to the problem of safely securing a hot iron to an ironing board when the iron is in an elevated rest position. A hot iron is normally maintained in this elevated rest position so that it may cool without damage to the sole plate, or damage to the fabric covering of the ironing board. In this precarious elevated position there are inherent dangers in: the possible acts of small crawling children pulling the cord and having the iron strike their bodies; the housewife tripping over the cord and knocking the iron over; the accidental tilting or bumping of the ironing board and fires resulting from contact between the hot sole plate and flammable material.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved holder for safely securing the holder to an ironing board.

Another object of the invention is an iron holder easily fabricated from steel wire rod.

Other objects of the invention are iron holders easily adapted to irons of difierent construction and having maximum flexibility for attachment to ironing boards of different sizes.

Still another object of the invention is an iron holder having means for securing the sole plate of an iron to the holder.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an iron holder having a transverse rest bar contacting the iron between the sole plate and the heel of the iron.

Still further objects and the broad scope of the invention will become obvious from an inspection of the specification, attached claims and the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is an isometric perspective view of the empty holder; and

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation of the holder mounted on an ironing board and supporting an iron in an inclined elevated position.

With particular reference to FIGURE 1, the holder is illustrated as comprising a pair of substantially right triangular wire side frames 1 and 2, as seen in profile, and kept at a spaced distance from each other by three parallel transverse bars 3 being preferably round, and the bars 4 and 5 being rectangular in cross section. One end 6 of each side frame is loosely curled around the bar 3 and adjustable along the length of the bar so as to permit the distance between the two curled ends to be varied to fit different sizes of irons. The other end of each side frame has a stepped portion 8 and a terminal portion 7 bent downwardly in the form of a hook to cooperate with one parallel edge of an ironing board. Facing the two hook portions 7 is another hook anchor 9 cooperating with the other parallel edge of the ironing board and secured to the transverse bar 4 by means of spring 10.

The method of using the holder is particularly illustrated in FIGURE 2 wherein the hooks 7 and 9 secure the holder to the ironing board 12. The iron 11 is inserted rearwardly into the holder so that the front portion of the iron sole plate rests on the transverse bar 5, the step between the sole plate and the heel of the iron rests upon the round bar 3 positioned by the stepped portion 8 above the upper surface of the ironing board to prevent the hot bottom of the iron from coming into contact with the ironing board and the upper diagonal portions 13 of the frames resiliently secure the sole plate of the iron in the holder.

Particular advantages over the prior art are found in the combination of the hooks 7 and 9 with the spring 10 making the holder secure and adjustable on the ironing board, and the upper diagonal portions 13 which resiliently clamp the sole plate of the iron at a safe distance above the ironing board 12 wherein the distance is maintained by the transverse bar 3 and the stepped portion 8. A wide flexibility of application and improved safety unknown to the prior art, are realized by the unique construction of the present invention.

It is obvious that minor changes may be made in the form and construction of the invention without departing from the material spirit thereof. It is not, however, desired to confine the invention to the exact form herein shown and described, but it is desired to include all such as properly come within the scope claimed.

I claim:

1. An iron holder comprising:

(A) a pair of Wire side frames spaced from each other by a plurality of parallel transverse bars wherein each side frame comprises a single piece of Wire havmg (a) one end curled loosely around one of said transverse bars at a point intermediate the ends of the bar,

(b) the other end having a stepped portion near the terminus thereof, and

(c) a hook-shaped terminal portion;

(B) a hook-shaped anchor; and

(C) means for resiliently connecting (A) and (B).

2. The iron holder of claim 1, wherein each side frame is substantially right triangular as seen in profile.

3. The iron holder of claim 2, wherein said transverse bars comprise three bars.

4. The iron holder of claim 3, wherein the first of said transverse bars has a circular cross-section and said bar is secured to said frames proximate to the upper part of said stepped portions.

5. The iron holder of claim 4, wherein upper diagonal portions define the hypotenuse of said right trangular frames.

6. The iron holder of claim 1, wherein said means for resiliently connecting is a spring.

7. The iron holder of claim 5, wherein said wire is inch steel wire.

8. The iron holder of claim 4, wherein the second of said transverse bars has a rectangular cross-section and said bar is secured to said frames near theupper corner of said right triangle.

References Cited ROY D. FRAZIER, Primary Examiner.

I. FRANKLIN FOSS, Assistant Examiner. 

